Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Amanda Chase is a Republican state senator in Virginia. She’s well-known for a few outrageous things she has said. She earned her place on this list with her contribution to the foundational argument of rape culture – that it is the victim’s fault for being raped. In a discussion about the public carrying guns, she…
Norman McAllister was a Vermont state senator who was accused of soliciting sex from women who worked for him or rented from him. One of the women who accused him died before trial, one of the women lied about testimony unrelated to her allegation, so the case centered on one remaining woman. First he pled guilty in a plea deal, but a judge allowed him to withdraw his plea. He was found guilty of improper acts and acquitted on two charges. The jury acquitted him of coercing sex but found him guilty of arranging for her to have sex with someone else to pay her electric bill.
His conviction was reversed, so he got a new trial that ended in a mistrial thanks to a juror watching a news story about the trial. In his fourth round, he was acquitted and is listed in the Exonerations database.
John McGee was an Idaho state senator who was offered a choice between facing a states ethics panel or resigning after being accused of sexual harassment. He chose to resign.
He’s kind of a “and then there is more” sort of character. He was first elected to the state senate in 2004, winning the primary and thus the election since Democrats did not run a candidate in any of the elections. But things went awry. In 2011, he went to a golf tournament where he got really drunk, stole an SUV and cargo trailer from a complete stranger and in an accident, got it stuck in someone’s yard. His blood alcohol was .15, nearly twice the legal limit of .08. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI in a deal that got the vehicle theft charges dropped. He had 180 days jail sentence, with 175 days suspended.
J. E. “Buster” Brown was a Texas state senator. He served twenty-two years until his resignation in 2002. A young woman, Tiffany Black, worked for his office while a college student. She reported that during a mock golf lesson, he kissed and fondled her. She then resigned. Rather than pursue criminal charges, the D.A, negotiated an apology in the form of a public letter.
Anthony Bucco is a New Jersey state senator and currently the Republican Party Whip. In 2002, a woman filed a complaint alleging that Bucco made a sexual relationship a requirement of employment. The woman was fired when Bucco’s wife found out. Bucco found her another job but when she refused to continue the relationship, she alleged he got her fired from that job, too. Since the state of NJ was named as a co-defendant, tax money was used to help him negotiate a settlement.
Bill Dix was Majority Leader of the Iowa Senate when Kirsten Anderson was awarded $2.2 million in a sexual harassment suit. She settled for $1.75 million. When he announced the settlement he continued to insist she was fired for poor performance despite her being fired seven hours after she sent a memo detailing harassment in the office. He said he believed her allegations as well. Several Iowa politicians plus staff were revealed in testimony to have sexually harassed or been inappropriate with women in the office.
Jack Tate was a Republican state senator in Colorado when he was accused of sexual harassment. The accuser alleged he leered at her and made comments about what she was wearing. She was only eighteen and working at the capitol as an intern. An independent firm was contracted to investigate and determined that the allegations were credible, or more likely to have happened than not. The state’s leading Republican released a letter that stated that even though her allegations were likely true, they don’t rise to the level of sexual harassment and don’t break employment law.
Tim Kapucian was an Iowa state senator who served three terms until 2021. According to the successful sexual harassment/discrimination lawsuit, Kapucian was present during and laughing along with the “boys will be boys” talk about women, including malicious gossip about a Democratic woman senator sleeping with an entire sports team. Multiple male staffers said he made inappropriate jokes.
Bill Anderson was included among the men making it a bad place for women to work by saying inappropriate things about women, but only when male staffers were presence. In his own deposition, Anderson said he walked away when people told inappropriate jokes.
When he was interviewed by the Des Moines Register, he said he didn’t recall anything inappropriate. “I guess I never experienced anything that would be described as toxic or inappropriate,” Anderson said. He resigned, not in disgrace, but to become the executive director of the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corp.
Rick Bertrand was a Republican Iowas state senator. When a woman won a $2.2 million lawsuit (She settled for $1.75 million) against the Republican caucus and the State of Iowa for the culture of sexual harassment that the Caucus allowed to fester for years and her retaliatory firing just seven hours after filing a memo detailing that culture, Bertrand called for the resignation of the Caucus Leader Bill Dix. Good for him.
But then, there are details of the complaint. There is Bertrand making inappropriate comments and suggesting the wife of Ed Failor Jr might want to join him in bath time. Bad for him.